According to Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at eMarketer, “the message still hasn’t sunk in: Likes are not a gauge of consumer involvement with your company or brand. But companies still insist on touting their total just like they touted “hits” back in the early days of the web.”
Williamson also advises companies to measure the success of social media marketing by tracking the redemption of coupons offered via the Facebook page, gaining new email addresses and making sales. There has been a significant increase in businesses using these sorts of conversion metrics as a measure of success.
Companies are also adjusting their posting schedules. When posting to Facebook outside normal business hours companies see engagement rates that are 20% higher than average.